Friday, January 10, 2014

I did not know he had married again, ex-wife of Taib Mahmud’s son tells court

'Mostly
he would come into the house, watch TV, see his son and take an
afternoon nap', says Shahnaz of her former husband, Mahmud Abu Bekir. -
The Malaysian Insider pic, January 9, 2014.

The former wife
of the Sarawak chief minister's son, Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Abdul
Taib, told the court today that she did not know that the woman he had
brought to his sister's wedding in 1999 was his wife.

Shahnaz A. Majid also testified she had accompanied her son to meet
Mahmud Abu Bekir and the Australian woman, Louise Aida Hiley, two to
three years ago.

"At the time of my sister-in-law's wedding, I did not know he was
married to her," she said during cross-examination at the Syariah High
Court today.

Shahnaz, the sister of popular singer Datuk Sheila Majid, also told the
court that Mahmud Abu Bekir stopped giving her financial support after
August 2011.

She said earlier today that he had initially given her RM7,000 a month
since they started living separately in 2000, and the amount was
increased to RM10,000 in 2007.

"But after August 2011, there was not even RM1 from him for me or my son until now," she said.

"He paid for our holiday in Damascus and Turkey but that was just once in the last 10 years," she added.

Shahnaz also revealed that since they started living separately, Mahmud
Abu Bekir would make occasional visits to see their son, which was once
every two weeks or once a month.

"Mostly he would come into the house, watch TV, see his son and take an afternoon nap," she said.

Shahnaz said that as the director of Sarawak Securities between 1993
and 2001, she was initially paid a salary of RM7,000 per month, adding
that during the period of 1994/1995, when the securities market was
doing well, they were given a year's bonus across the board.

According to Shahnaz after the securities firm obtained a license to
trade in the stock market in 1997, her salary was increased to RM10,000
per month. But by then, bonus payout averaged two to three months.

Shahnaz is seeking some RM400 million as divorce settlement, including
matrimonial property and “mutaah” (Islamic conciliatory payment).

She is also asking for half the assets owned by Mahmud Abu Bekir,
including seven luxury cars, thousands of hectares of land in Sarawak,
homes in countries abroad and shares in about 15 companies.

Shahnaz, and Mahmud Abu Bekir married in January 1992 and have a
20-year-old son, Raden Murya. Mahmud Abu Bekir filed for divorce in May
2011.

The divorce settlement proceedings had exposed the purported wealth of
the family of the Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Shahnaz, 50, had previously testified that Mahmud Abu Bekir had a son
with an Australian woman and later married a Russian woman.

She also told the court that the Sarawak Chief Minister's son has assets worth more than RM1 billion in Malaysia.

Under re-examination by her counsel Akbardin Abdul Kader, Shahnaz said
her ex-husband did not ask for her permission when he wanted to take
another wife.

She added that to her knowledge, he had also not made any application
to the courts in Sarawak or in Peninsular Malaysia to have a polygamous
relationship.

She also said that she never had sex with Mahmud Abu Bekir after they began living separately.

Shahnaz further told the court that the three cars in her possession
were from the company that she and her ex-husband jointly owned.

"The Jeep can't be used since three years ago, my son drives the BMW X3
and I drive the Mercedes S320," she said, adding that the Mercedes was
probably only worth RM50,000 now.

During cross-examination by Mahmud Abu Bekir's counsel Saadiah Din,
Shahnaz was asked about whether she knew about the cars she had alleged
that her ex-husband owned, including an Audi, Ferrari, Bentley,
Lamborghini and an Alphard.